Rotherham Titans v Leeds Tykes: Something has to give as grand old Yorkshire clubs go head-to-head

But for today’s National League Two North clash between league leaders Leeds Tykes and second-placed Rotherham Titans at Clifton Lane, the cliché could not be more apt.

Both former Premiership sides remarkably stand on 108 and 103 points this season, with the Tykes winning every match played and only dropping try bonus points on two occasions – each against the defensively proficient Wharfedale.

Rotherham’s only defeat was a tight 26-20 loss in late November to Leeds, and Titans captain Zak Poole insists his men are ready to inflict sweet revenge as the term enters its final four matches.

“This game is going to be an absolute grudge match and we’re going to make it that way,” Poole told The Yorkshire Post.

“We’re there to do a job. We’re not going to be dirty because that’s not our game, but we will not be nice to play against. I think we’re going to turn up and shock some people and play some lovely rugby.

“Fair play to Leeds as they do play some nice rugby, but where we’re going to be different and probably win the game a bit ugly. We’re here to play our game and win on our terms. There’s no underdog mentality here.”

Since that reverse fixture, both sides have targeted today’s encounter in South Yorkshire as a landmark match with an underlying belief that it will likely be a title decider.

Despite such hype surrounding the build-up to this match, the Titans’ coaching staff – which includes former Jersey Reds’ director of rugby Harvey Biljon – have tried to keep this week’s preparations as normal as possible.

Yet Poole, who returned from a hamstring injury in last weekend’s 47-29 victory away to Hull, has noticed a growing sense of anticipation within the Rotherham camp.

The backrower added: “We have kept everything as normal as possible. We’ve trained the same as usual and we’ve been acting the same.

“However, I think there has been a different atmosphere around the ground.There just seems to be that added extra buzz but for us. I don’t think it’s pressure – I think it’s more excitement.

“Within rugby, I can’t ever think back to any time where something like this has ever happened.

“I feel like the occasion is absolutely huge, where there are two teams going toe-to-toe and literally might have gone the whole year only losing one game apiece. Just being part of that itself is special.”

For Leeds head coach Mike Aspinall, this feeling is reciprocated.

The former Harrogate boss’s side have racked up an outstanding point difference of 591 so far – significantly helped by last weekend’s 78-17 home rout over 11th-placed Lymm.

“I think excited is the word,” said Aspinall. “There is a real sense of anticipation.

“It’s a big game and a great team on the other side of it, so what will that bring from us?

“I think and hope it will bring the best out of us and that’s enough to bring home four points.”

Following his summer appointment, Aspinall has helped transform the West Yorkshire club’s fortunes after their disappointing relegation from National League One last season.

Although the Tykes have enjoyed a winning streak like no other, the 40-year-old revealed he did not know what to expect from the squad upon first arriving at The Sycamores.

“With the club going into National League Two, we really didn’t know how it would play out,” said Aspinall.

“As such, the first half of the year was just a huge learning curve for us as far as trying to put an attacking and defensive framework together. Obviously, results just got better for us to the point that by Christmas we hadn’t lost a game. It ended up with us sitting in a very privileged position.”

Such unexpectedly consistent form has provided its own unique issues, as a result.

“There then comes another challenge from a coaching perspective of keeping focused and ensuring a young group of guys continue to improve,” he added.

“I think our job was to try and chunk the second half of the season down and get very specific about which areas we were looking to develop at certain stages of the season. Our defensive game has improved, and our attacking game has improved quite significantly since January.

“I think it’s been good for us and left us exactly where we need to be.”

Whether this elaborate preparation for today’s big game will be enough to see them through to a much-desired victory remains to be seen. “It’s a massive game, we’re not going to shy away from that,” said Aspinall.

Analysis – from sports editor Nick Westby

Twenty-one years ago these two teams were meeting as Premiership sides.

As recently as a decade ago they were Championship promotion semi-finalists.

Then the rot set in. Rotherham Titans were the fast to tumble out of the second tier in 2018, swiftly followed by an imploding Yorkshire Carnegie, as they were then.

So to see them both at the top of a league, albeit in the fourth tier, sweeping all before them, winning games of rugby and with the wind in their sails again, is something to rejoice from the Sycamores in Bramhope to Clifton Lane in Rotherham.

It makes today’s game arguably the biggest in the history of these two long-time standard-bearers of Yorkshire rugby and one to savour for both sets of fans.